Day 1,672

Exploradores

With time to kill, Tom was busy planning more trips. First we had a short hike up to a waterfall but we wanted more. Tom discovered there was a rough path that led up the hill overlooking the town. So we packed a snack and off we went, up past the waterfall we had visited yesterday. The path quickly became very overgrown, my old mountain biking crew will know there's nothing I love more! We passed a couple coming down who said we were almost there, the path would end shortly. Sure enough a few hundred feet further on there was evidence of a small landslide and no more path. 

Tom spotted a rope hanging from a tree, and with a few prayers we hauled ourselves up over the sheer drop. More minimal Danger adventures! Upwards we went until eventually we popped out onto a ‘road’. Now it wasn't what you'd expect from a road really, super steep, big loose stones everywhere, bits clearly lost in that landslide, deep ruts and then it became pretty much vertical. We kept on going upwards. We reached a plateau where clearly a wildfire had destroyed the majority of the trees, then up again, until finally we reached, for us, the top. Experienced and better equipped climbers could have gone further and seen views of the Northern Patagonian Icefield but for us we were happy enough with the stunning view of Chile's largest lake, Lago General Carrera. With snow covered mountains as a backdrop, we were mesmerised. Finally we were starting to appreciate the Carretera Austral. We took the ‘road’ all the way down, through an ancient woodland, ready for our next adventure.

The little town of Puerto Río Tranquilo next to the rather big General Carerra / Buenos Aires Lake

So as we didn't get quite to the top we didn't get to see the glaciers and the Icefield. Tom, as usual, had a plan. We could take the Exploradores road, I mean our Cabana was pretty much at the start of it, cycle 35 miles up and down a gravel road, take a short hike up to see the edge of the Icefield, so definitely worth it, then cycle back. So a 70 mile round trip.

We were heading into some big mountains, this was going to be good!

If we hadn't been killing time we most likely wouldn't have done it, but oh my it was breath-taking. The views along the road were stunning, I spotted a Condor, Tom got drenched by a massive waterfall, then it got better. All the way along we spotted glacier after glacier.

About 6 miles from the end of the road we stopped at a hostel with a cafe to ask about camping. The owner said we'd be wise to stop now as rain was coming, but when we looked up at the bright blue sky we doubted her words. By the time we'd checked the accommodation out, a bed in a glorified store room, the rain had arrived. The owners had lived here 25 years and made a living letting out rooms and running a cafe, it was certainly a unique experience and we learnt a lot about living in such a remote setting.

A proper wall of rock and ice

The following day there was no stopping us. Fellow guests were getting a boat trip to see the glacier, which due to the windy conditions meant they had to turn back before they saw anything. We took a short fun hike to a viewing platform above the park entrance and were rewarded with a stunning view of the edge of the Icefield.

There were a few clouds partially covering the tops of the mountains so we sat for an hour or so just watching as the wind slowly blew the clouds away. Even better, we had this view all to ourselves.

The moraine field was huge, and didn’t look natural

Mount San Valentín was hiding is the clouds, but we caught the odd glimpse

Reluctantly we headed back to Rio Tranquillo, riding the road in the opposite direction and as it was a sunnier day we saw even more glaciers. We paused to see where a massive landslide had blocked the road for over 6 months, creating a lake full of dead trees. The family we'd stayed with had explained that they had to drive so far, get a boat around the landslide, then use a borrowed car someone would leave at the other side to reach Rio Tranquillo, quite a journey just to nip out to buy some bread! 

Then, whilst we sat on the edge of a bridge eating our lunch looking at a hanging glacier, a huge roaring noise filled the air. Part of the glacier collapsed, bringing what must have been thousands of tons of ice and water down the cliff. Tom rushed to get his phone but caught the aftermath pouring down the hillside. What a valley this has been!

We couldn't quite bring ourselves to leave this stunning area, so we stopped at a campsite by lake Tranquillo and stayed two nights, just soaking up the views. We kayaked, watched the birds swoop down to eat the flies, saw fish leap out of the water to eat a few more, and generally didn't do much. Actually that's not quite true, Tom did cycle 15 miles to and from Rio Tranquillo for some supplies whilst I read a book! Oops!